1. Title of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shutter device in a recording/reproducing apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a recording/reproducing apparatus for effecting the recording of data in a card-shaped recording medium such as an optical memory card or a magnetic card or a disk-shaped recording medium such as a CD or a DVD or the reproduction of data recorded in that recording medium is provided with a shutter device for closing an opening after the insertion of the recording medium to prevent the double loading of such a recording medium (e.g., refer to JP-A-10-255367).
The conventional shutter device shown in FIG. 1 is an example in which the shutter device is applied to a recording/reproducing apparatus using a card-shaped recording medium.
A horizontally elongated insertion port 3, into which a recording medium 2 is ejectably inserted, is formed in a front surface of a panel 1.
Disposed in the rear of the panel 1 (in the interior of the panel 1) is a transporting device 6 for transporting to a recording/reproducing position the recording medium 2 inserted through the insertion port (opening) 3, and for discharging the recording medium 2 at the recording/reproducing position forwardly from the panel 1 through the insertion port 3 after completion of recording/reproduction.
A shutter 13 is provided uprightly at a front end of a holding member 11 which is formed in the shape of an elongated frame extending in the inserting direction (in the left-and-right direction in FIG. 1) of the recording medium 2 and which is rotatable about a supporting shaft 7. The shutter 13 is disposed in the vicinity of the inner side of the panel 1 and is located in front of the transporting device 6. This shutter 13 is formed of a plate having a forwardly curved convex shape, and a horizontally elongated opening 14 having a shape and a size corresponding to the insertion port 3 is formed in its central portion.
As the holding member 11 is rotated, the shutter 13 moves in a substantially vertical direction which is substantially parallel to the panel 1. The Shutter 13 is capable of changing its position between an open position in which the opening 14 corresponds to the insertion port 3 and a closed position (the position shown in FIG. 1) in which the shutter 13, after upwardly moving from the open position, closes the insertion port 3 by its lower side portion.
This holding member 11 is rotated as an actuating member 12 provided uprightly at its rear end is pressed by the recording medium 2 during the transport of the recording medium 2 to the recording/reproducing position by the transporting device 6. The holding member 11 thereby moves the shutter 13 to the closed position shown in FIG. 1. This holding member 11 urges the shutter 13 toward the open position side as its front end portion is urged downward by an urging spring 8 interposed between the holding member 11 and a chassis 10.
Accordingly, the shutter 13 provided uprightly on the front end of the holding member 11 which is rotatable around a supporting shaft 16 is moved in the substantially vertical direction substantially parallel to the panel 1. Consequently, the back-and-forth length of the space for the operation of the shutter 13 is made short, thereby making it possible to make the overall recording/reproducing apparatus compact.
However, in the case of the shutter device in which the insertion port 3 is closed by the shutter 13 provided uprightly at the front end of the rotatable holding member 11, in making the recording/reproducing apparatus still thinner, if the amount of rotation of the holding member 11 becomes small, the amount of movement of the shutter 13 which moves between the open position and the closed position also becomes small. For that reason, it is necessary to secure the amount of rotation of the holding member 11 in order to cause the shutter 13 to retreat to a position sufficiently spaced apart from an inserting/ejecting passage of the recording medium. Hence, there arises the problem that the restriction in space is large in making the recording/reproducing apparatus thin. It is possible to cite the above-described problem as one example.